Darwinian Horror

ChildofOldLeech said:
Speaking of mimicry, has there been any mention of John W. Campbell's 'Who Goes There?'
Click to expand...

I haven't gotten around to reading Campbell as Don Stuart yet, though of course I'm familiar with the movie adaptation. Nice to see another Davidson fan around, though!
 
I love Davidson's Boss in the Wall: A Treatise on the House Devil. Grania Davis completed it and it's a fine little work. I've always thought it ironic Davidson being regarded primarily as a science fiction writer when so many of his best tales were fantasies or horror ("Manatee Gal, Won't You Come Out Tonight?" is another favorite).
 
Reflecting upon Campbell and Wollheim's stories of biological mimics, insect or otherwise, caused me to think of David J. Schow's "Coming Soon to a Theatre Near You" as a likely candidate for the ever-growing 'DH' list; and, possibly his 'Not From Around Here" would count as well.
 
Druidic said:
I love Davidson's Boss in the Wall: A Treatise on the House Devil. Grania Davis completed it and it's a fine little work. I've always thought it ironic Davidson being regarded primarily as a science fiction writer when so many of his best tales were fantasies or horror ("Manatee Gal, Won't You Come Out Tonight?" is another favorite).
Click to expand...

Yeah, I think of him more as a fantasy or mystery writer. I guess most of the very versatile genre authors span multiple categories, sometimes in the same pieces. "Manatee Gal" is great. My favorite Davidson story is "Full Chicken Richness". But then I've got a twisted sense of humor.
 
Just thought of another good one: "Love is the Plan, the Plan is Death" by James Tiptree, Jr. One of my all-time favorites, Darwinian or otherwise. Her usual musings on biological determinism purified to a fever pitch.
 
A few odds and ends from my Darwinian horror file.


I find this a little unsettling. It is an evolutionary algorithm.

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9ptOeByLA4[/ame]


Another kind of evolution from the Biomimetic Robotics Lab at MIT. It is DARPA funded so they will want to weaponize it as soon as possible.

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_luhn7TLfWU[/ame]


And a wonderful illustration by Richard Corben for the Darwinian horror story "Arthur Jermyn" by H.P. Lovecraft.



 
Last edited:
A brief account of the ramifications of Darwin's theory of natural selection by John Gray, a philosopher who I have been reading more of recently.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mb5SnLN5KJI
 
"The Moraine" by Simon Bestwick has a nice example of Darwinian horror.

This story made Ellen Datlow's anthology The Best of the Best Horror of the Year: 10 Year of Essential Short Horror. It is also on audio at Youtube and Pseudopod.
 
Nice video on the theory of the evolution of vampires from the excellent novel Blindsight by Peter Watts. He earned a Ph.D from the University of British Columbia from the Department of Zoology and Resource Ecology.

(I find the most interesting aspect of this video begins at 4:14)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZzQACC7-C0&t=282s
 
Last edited:
Frater_Tsalal said:
A friend of mine, Colby Smith (who some of you might remember as going by the name Nirvana In Karma on here back in the day) had a short novel released by Snuggly Books earlier this year entitled THE IRONIC SKELETONS (The Ironic Skeletons - Snuggly Books), that touches on some of the subject matter mentioned on this thread. I wrote a review on Goodreads for it that I'll link to here for the curious:

James Champagne’s review of The Ironic Skeletons
Click to expand...

This one had passed me by, but your review has convinced me to give it a go. :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top